Common (language)
Common, the language or alphabet, is The Alliance counterpart to the Horde's Orcish language. All Alliance characters should understand Common tongue. In the lore (including the rpg, novels, manga, early games) almost all intelligent races speak Common. Common is a kind of universal language known by most members of many races of the world. Most if not all races have at least some understanding and speak some dialect of Common. Dialects or languages derived from Common include: modern Common, Undercommon, Low Common, Gutterspeak, Nerglish or the ancient tongue. Because Common is an universal language known by many races, characters that have never had contact with other races are often able communicate with each other on their first meeting. Other racial languages (Orcish, Taur-ahe, Gnomish, etc) are normally limited to their specific races, but are often learned by races that are most likely to encounter those races or read their language. The Common alphabet is made of up of letters. The modern "Common" seems to share words with the english language, mixed with words from an ancient tongue. For example half-ogre is the Common term for the race that is a mixture of ogre and orc ancestry, where as mok'nathal(lower-case) is the Orcish term for the same race. There are at least two known dialects of true Common, a modern dialect which relies more on english, and the "ancient tongue". Common Primer (official translations) Here are a few common Common phrases and words, for which the translations have been officially confirmed by Blizzard in various sources: *Dwarf = "Diminutive" *Trol'Kalar = "Troll Slayer" in an ancient tongue , presumeably from an ancient dialect of Common. *Thrall = "Slave" http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=thrall *Esarus thar no Darador = "By blood and honor we serve."(Valley of Heroes) Untranslated Common Names * Arathor - A former human nation in southeastern Lordaeron. * Arevass - A river in Silverpine Forest. * Andorhal - Former human town in Western Plaguelands. * Azeroth - Human city and nation, as well as the subcontinent and planet they are situated on. * Azotha - Name of primitive race of humans, that current race decended from. * Elwynn - A wooded region that envelops the heart of Stormwind kingdom. * Gilneas - Human nation in southwestern Lordaeron. * Lordaeron - Human city and nation, as well as the subcontinent they are situated on. * Stratholme - Former human town in Eastern Plaguelands. * Stromgarde - Human city in Arathi Highlands. * Tirisfal - Former human-settled region in northwestern Lordaeron. Language Implementation in World of Warcraft As mentioned above, in literature and earlier games almost all intelligent races speak Common. Pre-release World of Warcraft used to actually abide by this, but many players in the game's beta phase showed a lack of maturity in communication during battles. This caused Common to be the primary Alliance language and Orcish to be the primary Horde language. The Forsaken were given Common as a secondary language, but again, players showed a lack of maturity and this was taken away. Common Words (speculation) Note: The language algorithm used by the in-game "translator" merely makes the words LOOK like Common. It does not actually use a specific dictionary. Therefore, translated in-game speech isn't true Common. *"Daer" = "People" *"Goibon Uden Lo" = "Guards!" or "Guards help me!" *"Uden" = "Help!" *"Bur" = "lol" (When an Alliance player says "Lol" it will appear as "Bur" to Horde players. This is similar to how "Lol" in Orcish translates to "Kek" for alliance players) Speculation "Common" has an apparent connection to DnD derived generic languages, which apparently can be found in DnD rule books. Category:Game Terms Category:Languages